The XRP Ledger Foundation’s 2027 protocol roadmap research proposes adding ML-DSA-44 post-quantum signatures for accounts, validators and validator list publishers. The work supports Ripple’s goal of post-quantum readiness by 2028, but no mainnet activation date has been approved. An implementation has been tested on AlphaNet; further development and security reviews are needed before deployment.
The research estimates that a transaction using the proposed signatures could take about 5,331 bytes, versus 1,704 bytes for a conventional payment—a roughly 213% increase. It estimates 640 development hours and 400 review hours, plus $215,000–$255,000 in review, audit and related expenses that exclude initial development. Questions remain about fees, migration and software compatibility; adding a quantum-resistant regular key would not fully protect an account if its vulnerable master key stayed enabled. The roadmap schedules a migration study for the first half of 2027, with development, review and auditing in late 2027 or 2028.
